The Order of the Keyblade II
by CrystallicPrincess
Summary: Contains OCs. "Donald, Sorry to rush off without sayin’ goodbye, but... I got to check something out. There’re some people with a “Key” -- the Keys to our survival. So I need you and Goofy to find them, and stick with him. Got it? King Mickey."
1. Prologue

**THE ORDER OF THE ****KEYBLADE **

**By: CrystallicPrincess **

**Disclaimer: I don't own most of the characters that appear here. They are from Kingdom Hearts, Disney and Final Fantasy.  
Please enjoy your reading **

**Prologue**

It was all dark in the beginning, as it often was in all the dreams. This time, however, he could hear a voice talking, and the young man paid attention to it, even though the names and the voices seemed strange to him. Sora listened carefully. Somehow, for some reason, it seemed important...

_Donald,__  
Sorry to rush off without sayin' goodbye, but there's big trouble brewin'. Not sure why, but the stars have been blinkin' out, one by one. And that means disaster can't be far behind. I hate to leave you all but I've gotta go check into it.  
__There's some people with a "Key" -- the Keys to our survival.  
So I need you and Goofy to find them, and stick with him. Got it? _

_We need that __Key or we're doomed!  
So go to Traverse Town and find Leon.  
He'll point you in the right direction.  
P.S.  
Would ya apologize to Minnie for me?  
Thanks, pal. _

_King Mic__Key _

Then, out of nowhere, voices were talking at the same time, in unison. There was such harmony in there he found himself not capable of deciphering any of them. Who was this King MicKey? And who was this Minnie? What did anything of what this King said mean? And then, the light came, blinding... and wet! And then, it took him some time to remember how to blink.

A dog.

A very funny looking dog.

"Uh... What a dream...!" Sora said, when he saw what was licking him. He was about to go back to sleep when the dog tackled him again. "This isn't a dream!" he realized as he got up as steadily as he could. "Uh... Where am I? Oh boy," he managed to say as he realized the walls that surrounded him weren't part of his dream either. "Do you know where we are?" he asked the dog as he bent over to face him.

The domestic animal looked friendly enough, but when Sora had asked this, the animal ran right away. Sora looked around him, feeling tired, but mostly lost. It seemed like he was in a rather narrow street adorned with boxes a bit everywhere and he didn't quite remember where this was. He had never been in a place like this. The young man took some hesitant steps out of the passage, following the dog, and noticed how everything was suddenly so unfamiliarly strange to him. People were walking in paved streets.

Strangers. "Dunno why, but this city feels funny..." he commented, as he started walking around. He was definitely not in Destiny Island anymore. Where did the dog go? To his left, he found a building (the Accessory Shop, apparently from what he could read), which he entered with the firm intention of asking for help. There had been nothing to his right, except a big door that seemed to lead somewhere, but no one seemed to pay much attention to it.

When he entered, a man, standing there, but he hadn't lifted his eyes up from the opened magazine in front of him. He looked like he was in a bad mood. He kept in his mouth a piece of something, and kept his hands on the counter of the shop. His spiky blonde hair was a bit covered by small goggles. He also wore a white shirt with an orange belt over his blue pants. "Welcome... What can I do for you lad?" he asked, as if it wasn't the first time that he'd seen strangers come to his shop and look as disoriented as Sora assumed he looked like he was. Or maybe it was just because he had not seen Sora at all...

_Where was this place? Where was Kairi? Where was Riku? What had happened to Destiny Island? Why was he here?_ But of those many questions, only some managed to fit and wade their way out of his mouth. "Where are we? Is this really another World? Where are Kairi and Riku?"

Surprised by the question that this customer was asking him, the shop owner looked up from his pages and spotted the young man looking at him. "Oh it's only a kid," the man said, looking all disappointed all of a sudden the moment he realized that the young man was not as important of a person as he had thought. He wasn't even fazed after the young man asked about 'another World' and asked such strange questions. "From your get-up, I'm guessin' you ain't no customer, kid... and if you ain't buying nothin', I suggest you get out!" he added, reading his magazine. "...haven't seen you before, kid... where are you from?" he asked, when he saw that Sora wasn't moving from his spot.

What?! What kind of greeting was that?! The young man raised his fist at this stranger, rather outraged by such a reaction coming from a stranger. "I'm not a kid! And the name's Sora!" the young man added, and he was about to tell him what he had in mind, when the shop keeper stopped him.

"Okay, okay, simmer down. Nice to meet you too, Sora. So why the long face, Sora? You lost or somethin'?" he asked, putting his elbows on the glassed counter and contemplating the young stranger as if he were examining him. He was still chewing on that piece of something.

The young man looked surprised. Did his face look so long? Did he look so sad? But mostly, he didn't feel like admitting that he was lost, especially since he had insisted on not being a child. "No!" he exclaimed at first, and then, settled down with one of his questions, swallowing his pride with a gulp: "Well, maybe. Where are we? I was on my island, and... when I woke up I was here in this city... I don't know where any of my friends went... Riku... Kairi...!"

"Huh?" the man asked at first, and then, it was all evident to him. The weird looking clothes, the weird shoes, the hairdo, the questions, the looks, the face... "Oh. Another stranger arrived," mumbled the shop owner. "We're in Traverse Town, kid. Your World probably disappeared, engulfed into Darkness, like ours. The survivors all end up in this World, that's why we now call it Traverse Town. I don't know about those people you're talking about, but chances are, you'll never see them again," he added, rather insensitively, but he noticed that Sora was looking down at his shoes, looking quite depressed. "I figure if your friends are still tickin', they're gonna be somewhere around here... go look for them, why don't cha? HERE!" he added.

"Traverse Town..." murmured the boy, almost savouring the words as he pronounced every single syllable. "So, gramps, is this really another World?"

"Don't call me gramps! Call me 'gramps' again, and I'll beat you, silly. The name's Cid! Anyway... Not sure what you're talkin' about, but this sure ain't your island," he concluded.

"Hmm... Guess I'd better start looking for Riku and Kairi."

"Well, good luck with whatever it is you're doing. If you ever run into trouble, you come to me, at any time," he said. "I'll look out for you." He was nice after all...

Sora didn't say anything. He couldn't believe it. This was their dream! Another World! He had been able to travel to another place! This was the thought that came in last. The first thought that came into his mind – and coming seemed to be a mere word to describe it, it crashed into his mind, rather – was the memory of what had happened before he was knocked out, followed by so much other scenes of what had happened even before that. Memories of his friends... Kairi... Riku...

"That can't be! I'll find him... and Kairi too!" he promised himself aloud as he rushed outside.

The next scene horrified Sora. A man, looking panicked, who was running towards Sora, got jumped on by a short black Monster! Very much like the ones that had attacked him on the island! Sora watched, terrified, as the man disappeared, leaving a floating Heart behind, at the Monster's touch. The Heart floated around, and suddenly, transformed into a knight-like Monster!

"Those creatures from the island!"

At that moment, the dark creatures' attention turned to their next victim; Sora. The young boy felt its glance towards him as it prepared to jump. Sora automatically took on a fighting stance, and in his hands appeared the marvellous weapon that had come to him the last time. A weird, weapon-sized Key that had been able to save him from the creatures before and probably could now. Without hesitating, Sora slashed the air when the Monster bounced to assail him.

As soon as the Key touched the Monster, it disappeared, leaving a Heart behind as it did, just like the man's Heart had when he died. Then, abruptly and out of nowhere jumping on him were other Monsters of the same shape and size as Sora's previous victim. Somehow, the young boy didn't feel frightened at all. He felt safe with the weapon in his hands. When he managed to get rid of them, he walked back towards the Accessory Shop with the firm intention to ask this Cid more information on this situation.

"They know you're here. No matter where you go, or how far you run, they'll always be able to seek you out... They'll find you so long as you bear the Keyblade! They'll come at you out of nowhere," suddenly said an unfamiliar voice, making Sora jump. "I apologize, but... I'm going to have to ask you to take a nap..."

"Who are you?" he asked, turning himself towards the man.

The man had appeared suddenly at his side. He was tall, had medium-length brown hair, a bit like Riku's, and wore a short leather jacket with red wings on the back, as a symbol of something that was unfamiliar to Sora. He wore some kind of necklace, with a lion on it. The young boy later learned that necklace was called the Griever necklace. He had a small scar running across his face, and it made him look even more like a very powerful opponent. "And they'll keep on coming at you, as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade," the man added, as if Sora hadn't asked anything at all. "But why?" he wondered aloud, staring at Sora with his blue eyes. "Why would it choose a kid like you?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Never mind," the man responded, rather unemotionally. "Now, let's see that Keyblade," he decided and started walking towards the young boy he'd just insulted.

"What? There's no way you're getting this!" Sora was under the impression that the man was talking about his weapon, his only way of survival if the Monsters come back and attack again. He wasn't going to let this man run off with the 'Keyblade'!

"All right, then have it your way," agreed the man as he brandished out of nowhere his own weapon. It was a mix of a gun, and a sword; a gunblade.

He prepared to attack and the battle raged on. The man wasn't at the same level than the Monsters. He was much much better, and skilled. Whenever he had the chance, he would trigger the gun part of his weapon towards the young hero, and it would send vibrations through its sharp edge, sending them towards Sora. It was very difficult to dodge this, as Sora was not used to this kind of battle. In the end, tired and panting, Sora was about to lose consciousness while this guy didn't even seem to have broken a sweat!

"Now... now... you're... you're... gonna... gonna..." he repeated, but he wasn't able to finish his sentence. He was too tired... and then, he felt the ground under his knees all suddenly, and everything went blank.

Before losing consciousness however, he heard a girl's voice: "Aw. You're slipping, Leon."

"I went easy on him," responded the man's voice. "Looks like things are worse than we thought. A lot worse."

So that was the man's name. Sora would try to remember later... when he'd wake up... but now, he decided it was time to find Kairi and Riku, to leave this nightmare once and for all, and maybe come back to get a re-match with Leon.

He hadn't gone that far into waking up. It was all dark, when suddenly, a voice shot out of nowhere. "Come on, lazy bum. Wake up," she said. It was a familiar voice.

As he opened his eyes, he saw her.

Kairi.

It was her, with her short flaming red hair surrounding her sweet face. She was staring at him with her pure, blue eyes. It made his Heart skip a beat. When was the last time he had seen her?

"You okay?" she asked. She looked the same as the last time he had seen her. Her voice wasn't as unsure as the one he had heard in the secret cave back on Destiny Island. It was ethereally melodic. She was okay. She was okay!

"Uh I guess."

"Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade. But it's really your Heart they want, because you wield the Keyblade."

He didn't know what she was talking about. From where did Kairi take all that knowledge from? But for now, he didn't care.

"I'm so glad that you're okay, Kairi," he admitted, as he sat up on the soft bed. Somehow, it felt like this was the first time in ages since he had slept on a bed like this... How had she carried him all the way here? Was last night just a dream? The battle? The World being eaten by Darkness? Her disappearance? Riku?

"Kairi? Who are you talking about? I'm the great ninja Yuffie."

"Hm?"

He blinked once, than twice. And suddenly, the illusion was over. His best friend's image blurred, and in her place stood another young woman with short dark hair. The lady wore a green tank top, with a mini beige jean with a flashy blue belt. She also wore long beige socks with matching shoes. Her arm was covered with long orange gloves. She looked nice. But with a stab of pain, Sora realized this wasn't Kairi. "I think you might have over done it, Squall" she said, to someone behind her.

"That's Leon," the man that had beaten him earlier said, more unemotionally than ever. It was the man that had beaten him up earlier!

Was this a dream again? Why were these strange people here, on Destiny Island? Was this really a dream? Then where were Kairi and Riku? Suddenly realizing he was all alone, without his friends again, Sora felt uneasy. Where was his weapon, the Keyblade, as Leon had called it? Then, he saw it, leaning over the wall.

"The Keyblade..." he murmured, savouring the word as it was the first time he called it that way. The name fit the weapon indeed.

"Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures," she elucidated, as if to justify Leon attacking and knocking the young man unconscious when Sora had done nothing wrong to him. "It turns out, that's how they were tracking you," explained Ninja Yuffie as she paced back and forth.

The brown haired man backed off from the wall he had been leaning on this whole time. "It was the only way to conceal your Heart from them," added Leon, "but it won't work for long. Still, hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one," continued Squall, as he picked up the Keyblade, and brandished it. "In order to keep them from finding you, we'll have to hide the presence of your Heart..." he added, as if making a note to himself for later on.

Suddenly, the weapon disappeared from the unsurprised man's hand, and appeared in Sora's hands, to his surprise. "Ah."

"Well, I supposed beggars can't be choosers," he went on, his eyes closed as he ignored the young man's astonished reaction as if it had been the first time he had witnessed this strange phenomenon. Squall went back to leaning his back to the wall, crossing his arms over his chest, as if pouting.

But what was he talking about? Why did he want the Keyblade so much? He already had a cool weapon too! And what were these... Heartless' Ninja Yuffie had been talking about? The Monster that had attacked him? Why did they want his Heart so much...? "Why don't you start making sense? What's going on here?"

The two of them looked at each other, wondering who would go first to tell the whole story, which seemed quite long from the looks on Leon's face. But then, the ninja turned to hi, with what seemed like a patient smile. "Okay, you know there are many other Worlds out there, right?" asked Ninja Yuffie. She seemed okay with telling him, unlike Squall.

Sora nodded, sitting on the bed to make it easier not to collapse with the ton of information they were going to give him. So Riku, Kairi and he had been right from the beginning. And that guy... Cid hadn't lied to him either after all... He had indeed landed on another World, and he hadn't even used a raft...!

"They were supposed to be a secret," added Leon.

"They've been secret because they've never been connected," corrected Yuffie. "Until now," she added, and looking down. Her smile, Sora couldn't help but notice, had vanished. "When the Heartless came, everything changed."

Had he missed something? What was this new word she was using? "The Heartless?" asked the young Keyblade wielder, as they later called him.

"The ones who attacked you. Remember?"

"Those without Hearts," added Leon, as if to clarify as to why they actually called the strange dark Creatures like that.

"The Darkness in people's Hearts -- that's what attracts them," continued the ninja, looking as if she needed to give more details to the young man who was still so new at this kind of thing, at his age...

"And there is Darkness within every Heart."

There was a short and little awkward silence. Sora had the feeling that they had stopped explaining so that he could get all of this information in his head before they could move forward to more important. And so, the young man kept silent as well, trying to memorize these facts.

"Hey, have you heard of someone named Ansem?" Ninja Yuffie suddenly asked, turning around to him.

Had he missed another episode or something? What was this new strange name? "Ansem?" repeated Sora.

From the question he had just asked, Yuffie decided that the young man had never heard of Ansem. "He was studying the Heartless. He recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report. Its pages are scattered everywhere though, to many Worlds."

Leon took a step towards Sora as he briefly summarized what they knew about Heartless' and the reports Ansem had done: "There is one weapon that can save humanity from the Heartless. That Key," he added, pointing at the weapon Sora was holding in his hands.

"So... this is the Key?" asked Sora, brandishing it in front of him as he studied it for the first time. This wasn't a dream.

"Exactly," answered the lady, nodding.

"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade. That's why they'll keep coming after you no matter what," Leon said, turning his back to him.

"Well, I didn't ask for this!" Sora exclaimed.

"The Keyblade chooses its master. And it chose you," she said, with conviction.

"So tough luck."

"How did all this happen?" Sora asked. "I remember being in my room..." he started, wondering. And then, he suddenly stood up with a very painful memory. "Wait a minute! What happened to my home? My island?" Had Cid told him the truth? "Riku! Kairi!" he called as he stared at the ceiling.

"You know what? I really don't know," Leon answered.

There was going to be another awkward silence. Leon seemed a bit sorry as he leaned his back over to the wall. Nobody spoke, and then, suddenly, out of some black hole appeared a knighted Heartless! Automatically, the guys of the room put on their respective fighting stance.

"Crap. Looks like they've gotten a whiff of the Key... Yuffie, go!" ordered Leon as he took out his weapon.

The great ninja Yuffie used the back door, squishing someone that was about to open it, but Sora didn't bother to inquire about the person's whereabouts right now. They were all in danger if the Heartless had come back to claim over these people's Hearts.

"Yuffie?" he heard another female voice ask, but the door closed right after.

"Sora? Let's go," said Squall as he waved his sword-like weapon in front of him. He got out in the balcony and looked down. He stared at the streets like that for a second, and then, he put the situation in words for the young man who was arriving. "A lot of them... Behaviour's coherent, too. There's something coordinating their actions... Let's go. Don't bother with the small fry," he added, and he jumped on another balcony, beckoning the young man to follow him.

That was good. Keyblade in hand, Sora helped Leon taking out some of their enemies... for a time, because soon, the Heartless came crashing out of the window, and Leon jumped out, following it. Sora ran after them. When he finally got outside, however, he heard a huge explosion coming from the building he had just exited. As he gazed up to take a look at the damages, he saw two things happening simultaneously; two weird people were falling off of a balcony, and a girl was falling out of a black hole that had appeared in the sky.

That just bothered him a little, what really bothered him was that the two falling guys were going to land on him! And the girl... that also bothered him. The girl wasn't falling at all. Majestically white feathered wings had appeared behind her back. They kept her in the air, until something he had not expected happened: Heartless', coming out of nowhere, leaped on her, making her lose her balance and fall somewhere his eyes could not see. Though he had other problems for now, like the falling duck and his companion, Sora found himself worrying a bit for this new girl.

"Woah!" a rather surprised Sora was as he tried to avoid the collision, in vain...

When they opened their eyes again, probably at the same time, he heard the two people who had fallen off the building say, rather surprised and happy, too: "Oh! The Key!"

The first one was a duck. A talking duck, but here, right now, nothing could surprise Sora. He wore a blue outfit, with a matching hat. He was quite short compared to his friend and had a wand in his hands. A wizard, just like in the books back on the Islands, Sora deducted.

The last one was a soldier, judging the way he held his shield. Sora guessed this knight was probably more defensive, for he held no weapon. His green sweater matched well with his beige pants and brown shoes. He had a very funny looking orange hat on his head as well. He seemed nice.

They were about to introduce themselves, but suddenly, an earthquake started to shake them. Pillars suddenly grew up of the ground, blocking their ways of escape as they stood up. And there, popping up of them were the Knight-Heartless'. There was no escape possible. The pillars still blocked their way, and, the little knighted Monsters stayed to attack them, expecting that they would probably try to escape yet, they didn't come down, no. They were waiting for someone else to come.

One of them.

It was an armor-like Heartless. The Guard Armor – as Sora later learned to call him – was evidently the leader of the soldier-type Heartless'. It was purple, and wore the Heartless' sign on its torso. Its pieces flew around it as if it had a body in it. And it had appeared to eliminate him! To get the Keyblade, just like Leon had told him!

"Let's go get 'em, Goofy!" started the Duck, rushing towards it.

He had his wand ready, casting freezing spells at the guard so that it would be paralyzed for a second. That way, the one named Goofy would be able to attack it with his shield. The Heartless' guard was almost perfect. It would attack with its non joined arms turning them into a tornado and trying to hit them with it. It really hurt when it did. And it would try to use its feet to smash them, as his head and torso would still try to crush them into tidbits. Sora decided to help them out immediately. His Keyblade in hand, he decided to knock out the disjointed feet first, then, the fists, so that it couldn't smash them anymore.

Suddenly, the duck started slowing down his Magic attacks. Sora turned towards him. The Heartless took the opportunity and crushed him with its fists. He got up as quickly as possible, not letting go to unconsciousness. What would happen to this World if he let the Heartless' take over? It would become like Destiny Island... and other people would lose their Hearts, and friends, and homes...

"Donald!" called out the guard, as he threw a potion towards the duck.

As soon as he received it, Donald's attacks were even faster than they had been before. "Thanks, Goofy!"

Sora thought suddenly of him and Riku. Would they ever be together again, to fight among themselves or against the Heartless' like this? He repressed a surge of regret coming from the bottom of his Heart and continued the task he had given himself, hitting the Heartless Guard's remaining fist as quickly as possible before it tried to hit him.  
Soon, there was only the torso and the head of the Heartless left. Instead of fleeing, it kept on fighting them. The torso turned into a cannon all of a sudden, and would bomb them with some energy ball that would hurt a lot. When it was finally defeated, it vanished into a pure Heart, the two strangers turned to him. They explained a weird and yet familiar story about looking for the 'Keys' and their king.

"So, you were looking for me?" Sora resumed, pointing at himself.

And they nodded. "And also for other Keyblade Masters," added the duck, a Royal Magician – as his lightning blue outfit made him looked like.

Squall and Yuffie appeared, having finished off the remaining Heartless' in the area. The man was, again, leaning against the wall behind him while the ninja stood quite straight next to him, waving at them to greet them. "They, too, have been seeking the Wielders of the Keyblade," said Leon, as Yuffie and he appeared next to them.

While Sora considered this for a second, the nice one of his two fighting partners suddenly seemed like he had gotten a nice idea. "Hey, why don't you come with us?" suggested the other one that looked like the Royal Guard. "We can go to other Worlds on our vessel," he added, rather proudly.

The Key Bearer looked at the ground, wondering what he should answer to this very interesting proposition his new friend had given him. Was it really fair for him to go and have fun, exploring the other Worlds when his friends, who shared this dream with him, were nowhere to be found? "I wonder if I can find Riku and Kairi," Sora sighed, and the others looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

What could they tell someone who could have lost his friends forever?

After this second of hesitation, the Royal Magician shook his head and pulled himself together. "Of course!" quaked the duck, making the young hero raise his head again, listening intently, almost not believing what the duck had just said.

The others looked at each other once again. "Are you sure?" whispered his friend, bending over to his comrade, asking the very question that Squall and Yuffie were asking each other by their glances. After all, there were very slim chances that people could escape that Heartless', especially if their World had been engulfed by them. Sora had a strong Heart and all, but it wasn't sure that his friends could...

The duck shrugged as a reply. "Who knows?" answered the first one. "But we need him to come with us to help us find the King and the other Keyblade Wielders," he added in a low tone, almost in a suspicious way, something that had escaped the Keyblade Master's observations, because the young man was still contemplating the ground in wonder, still debating whether to take in the hopes of seeing his friends again or not.

Leon took a step forward to them. "Sora, go with them," he ordered. "Especially if you want to find your friends," he added.

Sora didn't look up. "Yeah, I guess," he sighed.

Really, that depressive attitude of the young man's had to be arranged...! The duck looked determined when he said: "But you can't come along looking like that. Understand?" asked the Magician.

"Oh?" The Guard asked, turning around to his friend.

"No frowning. No sad face, okay?" asked the duck, pointing at the young man's face.

"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us!" agreed his friend, chuckling as he got friendly pushed around by his companion.

"This boat runs on happy faces!" added the Magician.

"Happy?" repeated Sora, sadly.

The others looked at him, expectant. They didn't know how to react. This boy had gone through so much, and he was going to go through even more if he couldn't find his friends. Was bringing up his hopes such a good idea?

And that's when _**it**_ happened.

Sora looked up and made a funny face, smiling as widely as he could while staring at the sky. No one moved for a second, stunned, and he stopped, hesitantly. Was that not funny at all? And that's when they all started laughing, all of them, except for Leon, who decided to just give it a slight chuckle.

"That's one funny face!" the Royal soldier complimented, between two outbursts.

These guys seemed quite nice (especially the Royal Guard). They even suggested to help him find his friends and tried to cheer him up when they barely knew each other...! "Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys," Sora decided. "Will you let me on your ship?" he asked in a polite way to accept their offer.

The duck quacked happily, as his plan had finally worked to make the young man both smile and accept his rightful place on their ship and sail towards the other Worlds and look for the other Keyblade Masters. "Donald Duck, then," introduced the Royal Magician, putting his hand up.

The young Keyblade Master hesitated for a second, a little surprised. Why was this name so familiar to him all of a sudden? It seemed like he had heard this name before... but where...?

"Name's Goofy," added the Royal Guard, putting his hand on Donald's.

Understanding what they meant him to do, the young man put his hand on top of theirs, following his new friends' example. "I'm Sora," the young man introduced himself with a smile, sincerely hoping that he would be able to find his friends.

"Let's party!" they decided.

"All for one, one for all," decided the one Sora now knew as Goofy.

_**Meanwhile, in a rather dark room only lighted by a hologram of Donald, Goofy and Sora together was an interesting gathering of shadows.**_

_**"That little squirt took down that **__**Heartless! Who'd have thought it?" spit the first shadow. **_

_**"Such is the power of the **__**Keyblade. The child's strength is not his own," another male voice added. **_

_**"Why don't we turn him into a **__**Heartless? That'll settle things quick enough," laughed a first female voice. **_

_**"And the brat's friends are the king's lac**__**Keys," put in a third male voice. **_

_**"Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them," said someone else.**_

_**"You're no prize yourself," 'complimented' another one, laughing.**_

_**"Shut up!" And they were about to start a fight.**_

_**But another one, another female voice, a lot more severe, silenced them with a strict "Enough." She seemed to take several calm steps towards the hologram. "The **__**Keyblade has chosen him. Will it be he who conquers the Darkness? Or will the Darkness swallow him? Either way, he could be quite useful," she added, with a laugh. **_

_To be continued… _

**I know that I was supposed to work on Purple Moon and its prequels, okay? But I just couldn't resist posting here a sneak peek of what I was going to post afterward. haha. I hope you enjoyed. I'm starting to work on Purple Moon again, don't worry... **

**Yes... erm... The Prologue explains lots of things (principally because my friends don't know what Kingdom ****Heart is), and you'll notice some changes have already been added to the story, too. Please forgive my poor writing style? Ah yes. About the fighting scenes... I am really sorry, but I suck incredibly at describing what happens when we fight... **

**This is a fanfiction of Kingdom ****Hearts indeed, and you'll notice that the quotes are almost exactly taken from the game (I'm being meticulous on this fanfiction (well, I'm also kind of meticulous in Purple Moon too... but still...)). That's on purpose, because it will change soon. As written in my summary, the storyline is the same as the Kingdom Hearts game, it's just... with OCs in it eh eh eh... **

**Hope you enjoyed! See you next chapter! **


	2. Chapter 1: Weirdness in Wonderland

**The Order of the Keyblade**

**By: CrystallicPrincess**

**Chapter 1: **The White Rabbit, and the Strange Girls

**Right... So guys...(the ones who read Purple Moon): Apologies for the delay of part 19, but I fear I might have gotten the dreaded Writer's Block? **

**For the ones who actually read the Order of the Keyblade, thank you for waiting so patiently for this part...?! **

**For both of you guys... I've modified the Prologue a little, realizing that I failed to notice some things that were supposed to be modified (namely King Mickey's letter to Donald at the beginning). My apologies...  
****Please enjoy and comment **

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"Owies..."

Sora got up as soon as possible, not wanting to squish Donald and Goofy any longer. The Keyblade Master found himself wishing that not all of their landings would end up with them falling on each other in the World. The young man looked around. This place was nothing like Traverse Town, or like Destiny Island. This was definitely a new World.

The floor was covered with tiled altered from black to white. They were in some kind of corridor adorned with paintings of everything and of any size everywhere. Some things were floating in the air, without anything attaching them to the ceiling, or holding them above the ground.

"Sometimes, it's like fallin' down's all we ever do..." Goofy started to comment, reminding them of how they had first met (he and Donald had fell on Sora while defending themselves against Heartless'), making the young boy chuckle a little, but Donald stood up rather abruptly.

"Shut up already!" The Royal Magician had not finished his sentence, when suddenly he was stepped on by a funny looking rabbit, who seemed also to have been landing from a fall.

The new comer was all white, wearing weird clothes, and holding an umbrella in a hand and a watch the size of its head in the other. "Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! No time to say hello-goodbye, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!!" he said, staring at the two needles of the clock, as Donald was about to ask him where in the Worlds they had landed. "The Queen, she'll have me beheaded, as sure as ferrets are ferrets!" he assured. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there!" he added. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The Queen, she'll have my head for sure!" he repeated.

Sora stood there without understanding the White Rabbit's complicated words. It felt like the people from other Worlds spoke another language than his, even though some of the words spoken were quite familiar... Goofy seemed to be in the same state of mind, but it was the opposite of Donald, who seemed to hold a grudge against this energumen for stepping over his head.

"LET'S FOLLOW HIM, so —" the duck was saying, when suddenly, a girl landed on him.

"Where'd he go?" she demanded, stepping off of Donald quickly. "Where'd the White Rabbit go?" she asked, holding the Royal Magician by the collar and shaking him vigorously. "I know he was here somewhere, okay? So you must have seen him! If any of you dare lie to me..." she started menacing them.

The young girl seemed to be around Sora's age, but seemed slightly younger by a year or two. She was wearing glasses and her middle length black hair made her look like she didn't come from this world at all (she was the only human-like person that they had met so far in this World, but somehow, Sora just felt like she didn't come from this place). She was also wearing a black cloak with a hood that was covering her whole body (it also flew behind her when she ran like a superhero cape and also that seemed to be of use for her as a parachute), and seemed to be even shorter than Kairi was.

...of course, **seemed** was the key thought here, because the only way he would know this would be if **she** were here...

...Kairi...

He could still remember her fragile figure and her flaming red hair sitting, alone on the Paopu tree, looking at the horizon, wondering from what World she had come from, wondering if they would ever be able to leave Destiny Island and if they would be able to come back one day or another.

...How he missed her...

...And Riku, too...

The young man could still see his one year older friend beat him up with their wooden swords. He could still see the silver haired young man long for freedom, for more power, and he could still remember the painful race that they had done in order to name the raft and in order to see who would feed Kairi the Paopu fruit first.

The Paopu fruit...

Sora shook his head, now was not the time to think about sad things. Why was he thinking of such a silly legend anyways? It was girl stuff...!!! But Riku and Kairi... He would find them both for sure. Maybe he would find her in this World. Plus, he had a mission to fulfill now. It was also very important. It was essential to save other innocent lives.

"Gawrsh, the Rabbit went that way, young girl," Goofy answered, pointing at the end of the corridor.

And without even thanking them, the girl threw Donald aside and went rushing after their first target. The duck straightened up as soon as he was dumped and ran after her, literally burning with the firm intention of making them both suffer for stepping on a Royal Magician.

"WAIT, I SAID!!"

Sora and Goofy followed their Magician friend through the hall full of outlandish paintings into an incredibly weird looking room. What was most surprising of the room was that it was empty. No White Rabbit. No black haired girl. No door where they could have escaped either. Goofy and Donald looked around for traces of where the two fugitives might have gone.

"Wonder where they both went," commented Donald, constantly shifting his head from left to right. "Never mind that, I'll make them pay, anyways!" he added quietly, not wanting any of the escapees to hear the plan what he had already devised in his mind for them.

The Bizarre Room contained only one door, and it was too small for them to fit in. It also had a soft green bordered little bed which was too small for any of them to fit in, a clothed table with two bottles for drink on it, and a chimney. Nothing in this room matched. Basically put, information that led them nowhere.

"Maybe they're hiding behind that bed or something," suggested the young man. "Well, not much of a hide-out, but it might be hiding a trapdoor?" he proposed, as they pushed the bed aside, into the wall.

To their disappointment, the bed only gave way to passageway that was just as small as the little door... Which way had the girl taken exactly? And if they had used the door or the passageway, how could they get so small? There must have been another exit somewhere else, but other than the paintings, the chimney that wasn't lit and the passageway that the bed had given them, Sora could hardly spot any way out.

"Pulled a fast one on us, didn't they?" noted Goofy, abandoning his search as he sat on the table, careful of the suspiciously labeled bottles that was on it.

"I don't know. They couldn't have gone far..." responded Donald, looking under the table his friend was sitting on.

Sora looked on the floor, finishing his mental description of this room with how well tiled it was. And there she was...!!! Running towards the little door was the strange hooded **miniaturized** girl that they had just met. When he blinked, however, she just disappeared within the shadows of the passageway they had discovered behind the bed! The Keyblade Wielder looked at his companions. They had obviously seen the same thing as him and were obviously as confused as he was. Donald was so taken aback by this that he had completely forgotten to jump on her and catch her before the stranger had gotten away from his grasp.

"How'd she get so small?" Sora asked, bending down and staring at the door while pointing at the passageway that was about the same size as it. Was there some kind of Spell that Donald could cast on them to make them grow smaller, too?

Obviously, if the girl had taken this way, and since she was known to follow the white furred animal that had fallen on Donald, then the Rabbit must also have taken it.

"I beg your pardon, but it isn't that I'm tiny. You're simply too large," the door Sora had been staring at for a moment now said, as if it was obvious. The keyhole served as a mouth and the eyes suddenly opened, staring back at him, making it obvious that the doorknob was its nose. "Needn't be so loud, my other 'customer' was already so noisy," it complained, as if it was having a headache, and this was not surprising, seeing as the 'other customer' was, no doubt, the young girl that had tried to strangle Donald into giving her the information that she needed. "If you wish to pass, simply ingest the contents of that bottle on the table there, and do hurry up about it," the doorknob advised, yawning.

"WOAH!" Sora exclaimed as he jumped back, taken aback by this turn of events. Nevertheless, he took a look at the bottle on the table, inspecting it for the first time. There was a label and it read: 'Drink me'. "A bottle... this?" he asked the doorknob, however, Donald and Goofy were blocking his way from the small door.

"It speaks!" remarked Donald, the most surprised of them all.

The Royal Guard, bent over, nodded at this strangest energumen and exclaimed with a smile: "'Afternoon, sir! Ahyuk!"

"Good night! I need some more sleep...!" it added but Sora didn't hear him, he had picked the bottle up.

However, as soon as the young Keyblade Master touched the vial of drink, they all felt pretty strange. Then, he realized that the table was suddenly too high for him to reach, and the door was now at the same level as them. Sora looked at the bed which he had judged useless. It was huge, all of a sudden, pasted on that wall! Was this because of the bottle that he had touched? Was this some Heartless' evil doing this to disable the young Keyblade Master and his friends from finishing their quests? The young man wasn't sure, but he couldn't help but consider the Bizarre Room from a whole different angle and point of view now.

"It's just like they say! The Worlds beyond really **are** filled with mysterious things and stuff!" the impressed young boy exclaimed, looking at Donald for an explanation of how they could have shrank.

"I think it isn't supposed to be **this** mysterious..." the duck mumbled, but said nothing. From this reaction, obviously, this Magician had not been the one behind this shrinkage. It was undeniably the bottle which could have done this 'miracle'.

"Awesome, we really **did **shrink!" However, the young man knew that he didn't have the time to consider this. The doorknob had told them to hurry... "Open up! Oi! Open up!" he repeated, but the knob seemed to have fallen asleep and was snoring to prove it. The young man thought of knocking on the door, to wake it up, but considered it a little too impolite.

"Over here, Sora!" called out Goofy, pointing at the opening in the wall that they had found by moving the bed, the opening the strange girl had gotten in.

"We can get in through this hole, prolly," said Donald. "You go first, Sora. You're the Keyblade Bearer after all," he said, staring into the dark hole, uneasy.

As soon as they reached the only light the little dark tunnel provided them, they ended up in a certain forest inside a room. It was not a forest per se, but some kind of jungle of panels of some sort of weeds and yet-to-be bloomed roses. Mushrooms of all sizes and all colors were also growing here and there, while the only growing tree was way taller than them, while some others were scattered in the corners of the room. Sora estimated that the central tree measured about ten times his height. It was called the Lotus Forest, for the platforms of lotus that were big and gradually high enough to form a staircase for them to climb up towards the ceiling of the room, to reach the high trees and the passageways that Sora could already spot from where he was.

"Where are we?" asked Donald, not sure as he looked around for any signs of either the loud girl that had showed him such disrespect or the Rabbit that was as strange as late. "They shouldn't have gone far," he added with a quack, leading the way between the panels of vegetation.

There was also a little pond on the ground, in the corner of the room, but it seemed more like it was part of a decoration, for Sora was not wet when he walked on it. However, as soon as he had gotten out of the pseudo body of water, appearing out of black holes created in the air just for them, the Heartless' started attacking them! The first ones to appear and burn Goofy with their Fire Balls were called by Jiminy, who was hiding in Sora's hood, Red Nocturnes, and were floating recklessly in the air around them. The Spell-casting Heartless hovered about, keeping their distances from their targets as much as possible. This, obviously according to the Royal Chronicler, meant that they didn't have a lot of Health Power, and meant that they could die quite easily.

...Did the girl go through all of this as well?!

"Sora!" angrily called out Donald, as if he was taking the young man as responsible for triggering this new attack. The Royal Magician was sending out as much lightning spells as he could, to destroy the most flying Heartless' that were fighting with fire against him. Automatically, the Magician was the one that would be fighting all of them while Sora and Goofy would take on the new type of Heartless that had been sent against them. "DO SOMETHING, SORA!" he commanded, as the young man faced the big Heartless that seemed to have no idea of what it was doing there.

The second new type of Heartless that Sora faced in this fight was a Large Body. The big and round Heartless seemed to be tamed and laid-back, due to his confusion as to where it was, and seemed, however, to be quite dangerous (mostly because it was bigger than the young man). The young Keyblade Master and his friend Goofy decided to take it on as quickly as possible, attacking its big belly with their weapons. However, even the Sora's Key rebounded off the Heartless' stomach. The Large Body trembled, as if it tickled him.

Sora jumped backwards, imitated by Goofy as they avoided one of the Large Body's attacks. It launched itself in the air and landed flat on its belly, creating something resembling an earthquake, obviously trying to squish its enemies.

"What?!" commented the young man when he received a Fire Ball coming from the Red Nocturne. "You haven't finished them off yet?" the surprised and irked young man demanded to his friend.

"These Heartless' absorb my Fire Spells!" informed Donald, not happy either as he tried sending out some of his thunder spells against the hovering Heartless'. "CAREFUL, GOOFY!" he suddenly warned, pointing his staff at something behind them. "CURE!" the duck cast the Healing Spell upon the Guard who had been knocked out by the Large Heartless that had gone berserk when he had noticed (finally) that his belly had been attacked by two little humanoids.

"Ahyuk!" the Royal Guard said, still a bit knocked out by the impact of his fall, to thank his Spell-casting friend, as he came back to fight alongside with Sora, who had managed, somehow, to jump past the Heartless' attack. "Thanks, pal!"

The Large Heartless' body seemed to be covered with its Powers on its front... what about the...? "I know! Distract him, Goofy!" decided the young man. The Wielder of the Keyblade rolled behind the big Heartless as Goofy started to make a diversion by hitting its stomach once again.

At first, the Dark Creature didn't seem to understand what was happening, but when Goofy's shield once again rebounded off his stomach, the irked Heartless went crazy once again. It started jumping from one foot to the other, punching into the air and was about to rush over to the Royal Guard, but Sora hit its back with his weapon.

"Take that!" the young man smiled, when the round Heartless vanished with a sparkling yet fading heart, as the other Heartless' did when they were defeated by the mighty Keyblade.

Goofy was waiting for Donald to finish up the last Heartless and they headed towards the opening in the wall that seemed to lead to another place, and hopefully, would guide them to the White Rabbit and the strange girl that had been running after it. They entered a room with the façade of a house on its side wall, and in front of it, there was a white clothed long table with cups of tea and plates spread over its surface. The Tea Party Garden was empty... or almost...

The seats were all asymmetrical with each other and on one of them was seated the familiar girl with dark hair. She seemed to have trouble with one of the chairs she had chosen to sit down.

"Heh. You're stuck on the chair, girl!" noticed Donald, snickering as he unsheathed his Magician staff, ready for a fight.

"Do you need any help there, Ahyuk?"

The girl stopped struggling with the light pink shaded chair and glared at them with fierce flaming eyes as a response to both of their comments. "NO WAY! MY PRIDE IS MY STRENGTH!!!" she yelled, brandishing her fist at them, jumping out of the chair and running towards the door of the house's façade, opening it and slamming it behind her.

"What was that all about?" asked Sora, looking at his friends, who probably had even less idea than him about it.

Donald shrugged the questions pushing inside the young man's head away. "Anyways, let's follow her. She most probably will lead us to the White Rabbit too, and then..." the duck had no time to finish his sentence, or perhaps he didn't want to finish it, for the sake of Sora's innocent ears.

They tried entering the house as well, but when they opened the door, there was another door, and then, another door again, and it went on and on, without stopping. It didn't seem like it was going to end anytime soon either...

"What the heck is this place!?" quacked Donald as a comment, struggling to open the millionth door that had appeared in front of them.

"Ahyuk! It's not called Wonderland for nothing, I guess," Goofy commented, reading what Jiminy had recorded up to now as the Royal Magician kept trying to unbolt the next door, chuckling.

"Perhaps we should have tried this door, Donald," suggested Sora, pointing at the door right beside it.

As soon as they entered the next room, they found themselves deafened by the sound of the trumpet, and deduced they had arrived in a law court. Someone was presiding the court. A pretty corpulent woman wearing a crown on her head and a frown on her face was sitting on a chair at a level much higher than them all. All over the room were cards. Not playing cards per say, but playing cards anyways. They were much bigger than normal playing cards, and had grown a head in the shape of their symbols, legs and arms. Some of them were wearing casks, holding spears in their hands, and their symbols were spades.

A girl whose long, blonde hair was held by a black ribbon, was standing in the box of the accused people. It wasn't the girl that Donald was looking for, but she was also quite original in her clothing. She was wearing a simple sky blue dress and a white apron over it. The unnamed girl was looking around her, as if she wasn't sure of where she was. She most definitely didn't look like a guilty person, so why was she confined in the prisoner box? Was she the one who menaced cutting the White Rabbit's head?

Speaking of which, there he was, putting the trumpet he had been playing down on his feet. "Court is now in session!" announced the voice of the White Rabbit they had been chasing after, who was standing on top of stairs that were almost at the same height as the Queen.

"Oi! It's that rabbit!" Donald exclaimed, walking towards the court, angrily as he glared at his target. Obviously, the Royal Magician was planning on doing something very nasty to the White Rabbit as soon as he got his hands - or staff, whichever worked - on it (completely ignoring the whole court's presence).

The young girl with pitch black hair that had appeared out of nowhere suddenly grabbed the Royal Magician's collar and held him back where they were, hidden from the seemingly dangerous cards, the Royalties and the Rabbit, as Sora and Goofy covered the duck's beak, not wanting Donald to yell and dispute them for not letting him give the Rabbit the punishment he deserved.

When she made sure that they were well hidden in the shadows of the bushes, she glared at the three of them reproachfully. "Hey, Duck, don't you dare do anything unless I tell you to. This is **my** court law crash," the dark haired girl muttered to his ear, smiling incredibly menacingly.

"All right, all right," agreed Sora, as the 'Prideful Strange' Girl put him down. "So, who are you anyways?" he wondered. "You don't seem familiar to this World," he started to comment, and he wanted to say some more, but the Royal Guard muffled his next words.

Meanwhile, flapping herself with a fancy looking fan, wearing an expression of pure boredom on her face, the Judge expressed her thoughts about this court case. "The girl is the culprit. There's no doubt about it." Her Majesty said this with such determination that even the short King, who was wearing a crown and sitting next to her, but on a lower leveled throne, twitched on his seat and avoided saying anything that would compromise his wife. "And the reason is... because I say so, that's why! And if you will protest," started the Queen as Sora noticed the girl wanting to protest: "have you anything to say in your defense?"

Really, everyone in this World was eerie.

"So you're from another World too, aren't you?" the nameless girl concluded from Sora's question, smirking as she studied him. "Figures," she added to herself, shrugging as she stopped turning around him. "But now, I have to save my friend, there," she was pointing at the blonde girl in the court. "She's innocent, as you might have noticed, from whatever crime her Majesty the Queen of Hearts accuses her of," the stranger said, pronouncing the Queen's name with such hatred and exaggeration that the young man had to smile, turning her back to them once again and turning her attention to the court law. "And I'm not going to let them execute her for nothing," the stranger announced.

The girl, standing in the box of the suspects, spoke up against the uninterested Queen. "That's so unfair! I've done absolutely nothing wrong!" she objected at once, as her own evidence, her voice echoing in the room. "I don't know whether or not it's true you're a Queen, I've never met anyone so selfish and mean! A Queen has not right to be so mean!" the blonde girl added in defiance, making everyone in the room gasp.

"...The heck?" was Donald's only comment, his eyes wide-opened at this sight. He had, no doubt, wanted to scowl the female outsider of this World for wanting to interfere with the ways of this World, but the scene that was laid before their eyes was too much to ignore.

Her Majesty put her two hands on the counter and stared straight at the suspect. "SILENCE! Little girl... are you intentionally attempting to anger me?" demanded the Queen, looking suddenly interested, in the wrong way, in this case. "I find the defendant, Alice, guilty as charged!!!"

The strange girl coming from another World said that her friend wasn't the one who had been accused of a crime the Queen had accused her of doing. Should Sora believe this new girl he had met, or should he believe the strange logic that the Queen had just employed to explain her conclusion of this case? What kind of logic is this anyways? Sora wanted to help his fellow Outer World acquaintance. However, he didn't know why, but he couldn't help but wondering... Would she listen to him, since she didn't want Donald to meddle with her saving her friends?

"How can you..." started protesting the one named Alice, obviously, she wanted to fight some more for her freedom, and really, who would blame her?

Next to him, the still unnamed girl started to feel uneasy, she was taking a step up and a step back, wondering if she should or should not intervene at this moment, or if she would appear more as a hero if she made her appearance a lot after this? Either way, she did not move. Donald and Goofy were listening intently to the progression of this odd court case.

"You are guilty of theft attempted upon the heart of Queen of Hearts!!" the fleshy woman interrupted her, slamming the counter with her gavel as violently as she was mad. "OFF WITH HER HEAD!" she pointed at the young woman, and at once, the spaded cards pointed their spears at Alice.

The trio looked at each other, not paying attention to the strange girl who had led them here any longer. They knew they were all thinking the same thing. So someone had tried to steal the Queen's heart! No doubt, this was... A Heartless!

Sora turned to Donald. "Hmm, a heart... hey, guys. I think we should help her out," the young man said. When he said this, the girl looked at him hopefully, as if she knew that she could not take on all of the guards that kept her friend imprisoned in that suspect box of theirs. "So, can we help you in any way, uh...?" whispered the Keyblade Wielder, asking her, but realizing that he didn't even know her name.

When his friend duck turned to him, there was no trace of anger towards the strange girl, or any sign of incredulity towards the sight of a girl being guilty for no reason. "Yeah, but, Sora... if we meddle in the affairs of this World..." started Donald. He seemed to want to help, but it seemed like something prevented him from agreeing to the Keyblade Master's request.

"Against the rules, that is," added Goofy, helping the Court Magician answer Sora's question as he looked down, very sorry for not being able to help her and her friend named Alice. "And you also have to follow the rules," the Guard said, pointing at the young girl, "since you're from another World too. It applies to everyone..."

"But...!" simultaneously tried to object Sora and the stranger, but they both stopped in the middle of their objection, knowing, from Donald's glare, that there was no mean in arguing with the Royal Magician.

The girl who had yet to introduce herself just yet just scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest as Donald and Goofy turned towards the court law, interested in what was going to happen next. "I say I don't care..." she muttered to the Keyblade Bearer, whom she had noticed, was still looking at her. She was smiling rather mischievously. "Are you ready... Sora, is that it?" she added. "My name's Karen, are you ready to rock this court law a little?"


End file.
